Thursday, April 30, 2009

Bedtime Story

One of my kids favorite bedtime stories is the true story I tell of the time I was most scared in my life. Seeing as nothing much has been happening around here and I haven't anything more exciting to post about, I thought I would share this bedtime story for my post tonight.

Long ago when I was a little girl about 6 or 7 years old, I slept in an antique white wrought iron bed. It was about a foot off the ground and I used to hide under it when I was trying to hide from my parents or my siblings. It made a perfect hiding place.

Because it was such a good hiding place I was always scared that a monster of some sort might be hiding under there when I went to bed. Each night I would turn off the light in my room and take as few steps as possible before jumping onto my bed from as far away as possible. This was all just in case there was something under my bed. I didn't want it to be able to grab my foot.

One night I followed this routine and then as usual began the nightly wait to fall asleep. I have never been able to fall asleep quickly. As I lay waiting for sleep to come, I felt my bed shake. Now I was a rather logical and reasonable girl and I knew beds could not shake themselves. I also couldn't believe there was REALLY a monster under my bed. I mean that was just a crazy fear right?

I thought to myself, "maybe I accidentally moved and made the bed shake." It was a wobbly bed. "Or maybe it was the wind." Then I did note that the window was closed and so there couldn't really be "wind." Still I was not ready to accept the "monster" theory so I laid perfectly still, making sure my feet and hands stayed on the center of the bed, and waited.

A minute later my bed moved again. This time I was SURE it was not me or the wind and I had definitely felt my bed shake. So like any typical little girl, I screamed out "DAAAAADDDD!!!!"

A moment later my father groggily came to my doorway. He had obviously been sleeping. He turned on my light and asked what was wrong. I told him something was under my bed. Like a typical father, he said, "Now Stephanie, there is nothing under your bed. Look under there and see for yourself and we can all go back to sleep."

I shook my head no. There was NO WAY I was looking under there. "No way Dad," I said. "There is something under my bed. My bed MOVED! YOU look under my bed!"

My dad tried a couple more times to get me to look under my bed but I would not budge on the issue. Finally he said, "okay listen. How about I will look under your bed and make sure nothing is there and then you look under your bed and see for yourself. Then we can all go to sleep."

This sounded like a much more reasonable proposition and I agreed. So my dad walked over to my bed. Then he began lifting my bedspread to look under my bed all the while with his eyes fixed on me and saying in a teasing voice, "I'm looking under your bed. I'm looking under your bed..."

Just then the something under my bed reached out and grabbed my dad by the ankle. In one fail swoop my dad jumped completely out of my room and back into the hall with a surprised scream. That right there was the scariest moment of my life. Whatever it was under my bed and just made itself known and my dad had left me alone with it in my room.

Then I heard my older sister's laughter floating up from the floor. My dad, now FULLY awake, came back into my room and got my sister out from under my bed and into her own room.

I learned that night that when we face our fears they are often not as bad as we imagine. Sometimes the monster under your bed is just your big sister playing a trick on you.

19 comments:

Love this story!!! I was a bit "scared" reading it, and happy to find out that your monster was only a sibling trick.

that brings back memories or when my sister & I shared a full-bed. When we talked (or fough) too much at night, my mom would make us lay on the floor. We would then start to whisper back & forth & make a "window" under our bed so we could see each other :)

I guess I need to just face my "monsters" under our beds, and get the junk put (thrown) away :)

Thank you for the story I know we all have to face our fears or we can not grow, and yes sometimes it is just nothing at all and other times it is. But I know because I have had to force myself to FACE many fears in my life and it has changed me for the good. Have a great and blessed day. Sue

Hahahahaha! I love this story! (A friend made me watch the scary movie "Boogie Man" the other night [not recommended] and it's story line was waaaay too similar to yours ... Except it wasn't a little sibling. It was ... dun, dun, dun the BOOGIE MAN. And he uhm, yeah, killed people. The end.) :)

That is truley HILARIOUS! also because I used to do the whole "leap into bed so whatever was under there wouldnt get you" thing... in fact i did it when i first got married and started living with my husband (i didnt think he was looking). he looked at me like i was a complete lunatic and about peed himself laughing at me when i told him why i did it. needless to say i dont do it anymore, but i understand your fear! lol

AWESOME story! I used to do the same thing including when I got out of bed (jump as far away from the bed as possible). I also used to kiss all of my dolls before I went to bed so they wouldn't "be mad at me" and get me in the night. The things we do for peace of mind, eh?! It was good seeing you at field day; I loved Annie's violin solo, as well. She is adorable and very talented. Hope all goes well the next few days for you and your family.

I USED TO THINK COOKIE MONSTER LIVED UNDER MY BED. I DID THE SAME RUN AS FAST AS I CAN AND JUMP AND LAY DIRECTLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BED AS TO NOT LET HIS FURRY PAWS BE ABLE TO REACH ME MOVE... BEFORE I COULD GOTO SLEEP!

I love it! I need to be remindedThat often what we fear a lot turns out to notBe as bad as the anticipation. You are amazingI look up to you so much. Good luck with theNew baby coming. Even though I'm a strangerYou are my sister in the gospel and I loveYou and your family!

I just found your blog through a friend of mine from Las Vegas. I read your story of your sweet baby Camille and cried through the whole thing. I am amazed at your strength and faith, never wavering. Thank you for publishing your story and writing about life in such a beautiful way. I am going through loss in my own life right now, and it really lifted me up to read about you and how you cope every day. Good luck to you as you have your new baby, what a wonderful celebration of life!

HAHA! That was awesome! I sort of figured there must be someone there playing a trick on you...but it you had me in on the edge of my chair with that one. :)

When I was a little girl, I thought there were tigers and lobsters at the foot of my bed under the covers waiting to snap off my toes. Even when I would check to see that the coast was clear, I would literally sleep in the fetal position on top of my covers for fear they would get me. To this day, I don't like to have my toes touched and I end up sleeping with my legs crossed (criss-cross applesauce) at night out of habit. Drives my hubby nuts sometimes. lol.

Great Bedtime story! My daughter-in-law is having my grandson by this evening. She is going in this morning for them to break her water, she is dialated at 3. I was checking in on you to see if there was a baby yet. Prayers to you!

Oh my gosh Stephanie, you almost put ME into labor with that one. I can just visualize the whole part of your dad saying what he did and thinking "I'll show her" and then he gets scared on top of it too! That's too birds with one stone! Priceless story!! ...still laughing... :D

Ok, not to discredit your fears...cause I was/AM still afraid of the dark...but my husband and I both LAUGHED until we cried at this story. I am still giggling! :) Thank you for sharing, and I do appreciate the analogy!!! :)

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Our lovely daughter Camille, drowned in our backyard spa on June 13, 2008 and died two days later in the hospital. This blog has served as a tool for me to work through my emotions in this grieving process. If you want to skip back to the first post after Camille's drowning you can click on her picture below.